sideration, read to the House the following communication from the

queen.

"The queen thinks it necessary to inform the House of Commons, that she has been induced to return to England, in consequence of the measures pursued against her honour and her peace, for some time, by secret agents abroad, and lately sanctioned by the conduct of the government at home. In adopting this course, her majesty has had no other purpose whatsoever but the defence of her character, and the maintenance of those just rights, which have devolved upon her by the death of that revered monarch, in whose high honour and unshaken affection she had always found her surest support.

"Upon her arrival, the queen is surprised to find that a message has been sent down to parliament, requiring its attention to written documents; and she learns, with still greater astonishment, that there is an intention of proposing that these should be referred to a select committee. It is this day fourteen years, since the first charges were brought forward against her majesty. Then, and upon every occasion during that long period, she has shown the utmost readiness to meet her accusers, and to court the fullest inquiry into her conduct. She now also desires an open investigation, in which she may see both the charges and the witnesses against her-a privilege not denied to the meanest subject of the realm. In the face of the sovereign, the parliament, and the country, she solemaly protests against the formation of a secret tribunal, to examine documents, privately prepared by her adversaries, as a

proceeding unknown to the law of the land, and a flagrant violation of all the principles of justice. She relies with full confidence upon the integrity of the House of Commons, for defeating the only attempt she has any reason to fear.

"The queen cannot forbear to add, that even before any proceedings were resolved upon, she had been treated in a manner too well calculated to prejudge her case. The omission of her name in the Liturgy; the withholding the means of conveyance usually afforded to all the branches of the royal family: the refusal even of an answer to her application for a place of residence in the royal mansions; and the studied slight, both of English ministers abroad, and of the agents of all foreign powers over whom the English government had any influencemust be viewed as measures designed to prejudice the world against her, and could only have been justified by trial and conviction."

After this communication, which was received by the Opposition with repeated plaudits, lord Castlereagh rose to move the order of the day, for taking into consideration the late message of the king, His lordship stated, that he must protest in limine against the attempt which had been made to represent his majesty's ministers as coming down to that House in the character of persecutors or prosecutors; and he was sure, that no part of their conduct warranted such a charge. If the House adverted to the nature of the communication that had been made from the throne, they would be ready to acknowledge, that there never was one more gracious

in its terms, or more respectful in substance. His majesty there threw himself on the great council of the nation, in a matter which nearly interested the kingdom as well as himself, calling on them to look to the case, and to tender him such advice as they should think best suited to the situation in which the country now stood. The illustrious personage concerned, seemed to have been impressed with the belief, that the charges against her were to be tried on written documents, and decided by parliament as a secret tribunal. God forbid, that such should be the purpose of any set of men, or that any course should be adopted, which would not allow her a public hearing of the whole merits of the case, a full examination of evidence, and ample power of cross-examination, so that she might have every opportunity of disproving what was alleged against her. But there was a most serious and important question to be agitated in limine, and one that could not be better discussed and decided any where, than in the legislative assembly of the kingdom-namely, what was the best course of proceeding for asserting the honour and innocence of that illustrious person, if they could be asserted, and at the same time, satisfying all the ends of justice? For this purpose, he would recommend the course which had been adopted by parliament on so many former occasions-the appointment of a select committee, in the first instance, to inquire, whether or not the documents, laid on the table, contained sufficient grounds for instituting farther proceedings; and he referred to the case of Sir Thomas Rumbold, as a precedent for

the course which he proposed. If, as in the case of Sir Thomas Rumbold, the committee should recommend a farther proceeding, either by impeachment, or by any other mode, the House would first take the precaution of referring the report of the other committee to a committee of the whole House. His lordship, after entering at length into a defence of the conduct of ministers, concluded with moving, that the papers, which he had yesterday presented to the House, should be referred to a select committee, in order to consider the matter thereof, and to report their opinions thereon to the House.

Mr. Brougham resisted the appointment of a committee. The evidence, said he, which the noble lord now talked of, referring to a committee, was made up of papers only, of papers, transmitted from beyond the Alps, and which, for reasons that he could not understand, were now, for the first time, to be disclosed. These papers, however, it appeared, were intended to save the committee the trouble of examining witnesses to their face. For his own part, he knew nothing of the materials, which were to constitute the subject of inquiry; his knowledge was confined to the exterior of a green bag. In that bag was contained, not only all the documentary evidence, but all the evidence of any kind which could be adduced before a committee. had reason to believe, that no living witness would be brought forward for any further purpose, than that of verifying certain signatures. But the noble lord thought proper to contend, that all proceedings before a committee would be indifferent as to the re

He

sult of an ulterior inquiry. This proposition, he begged leave to deny at once. The report of a committee of that House was not indifferent to the fame or interests of any individual. What honourable member would choose to have his honour, his life, or his reputation, made dependent on the deliberations, or judgment of such a tribunal? Who would be satisfied, to have his whole conduct, during six long years, and at the distance of a thousand miles, without the power of calling a single witness, or knowing what was in agitation against him, made a matter of grave inquiry? He called on every man who heard him, to lay his hand to his heart and declare, whether, in his own case, he would put his trust, or rest his final hope, on a committee. The House would bear in mind, what would be the probable composition of that committee, and would easily understand, that it would sit within the wall of darkness. Was, then, a solemn parliamentary opinion to be recorded in this manner? How could the character of her majesty, or of any other person, be said to be in security, when left to the uncertain issue of a committee's investigation? Might not that character be, in effect, destroyed and blasted by the report of a committee? As to the terms which had been offered to the queen, Mr. Brougham stated, that the offensive part of the proposition, that part of it which struck her majesty as most objectionable, was this-that 50,000l. were to be given upon one condition-not only that she should leave the country (though even that would have borne the appearance of an unworthy compromise, if it had

been formally reduced to writing, and had been made the ground of a legislative grant), but that she should tacitly admit, that there was some foundation for the accusations against her. That had appeared to him, and to her majesty, the most exceptionable part of the whole; and, notwithstanding all the refinement of the noble lord-notwithstanding all the attention which his statements merited, and the respect which his conduct in this House, as far as candour was concerned, inspired

Besides,

he (Mr. Brougham) must assert, that upon this point, his opinion remained unaltered, and he still viewed it, as he had always done, as nothing more nor less than calling upon the queen to say, "Give me 50,000l. a year, and I will admit that I am guilty, or, at least, not quite innocent." she was not only to abandon her own title; she was also prohibited from taking any other belonging to the royal family. What else was that than to say, "I admit myself to be unworthy of that family, and ought not to be permitted to bear its name."

Mr. Brougham then affirmed and stated, that he had her majesty's authority, given in the presence of Mr. Denman, for affirming, that he had counselled her majesty to reject the terms contained in lord Hutchinson's letter, before she had expressed her own indignation at them. This counsel, he added, he had given with pain, and, if other propositions had been made to her majesty, which did not wear the appearance of an acknowledgment of guilt-which, as a woman of honour and of unimpeached character and conduct, she might have safely accepted

which would not have been discreditable to a government to offer, and to which, in justice, the queen might have yielded he would have been the first to have given his humble advice, that her majesty should rather go a step too far, than not go far enough, to lend herself to an honourable but a private and amicable adjustment. His reason was thisthat, from the beginning to the end of these distressing transactions, it had been his most fervent wish, and upon that principle his conduct had been built, that if it were possible for her majesty, consistently with her innocence, her honour, and her safety, to submit to a private compromise, rather than provoke a public discussion, she should give her consent. In this question the interest of the royal family was most deeply concerned, and the interests of the constitution were implicated in proportion: the peace, the tranquillity, the very morals of the nation, were involved we were on the brink of a precipice, or rather, we were not yet quite so near the edge as to afford a clear view of all its dangers; and, if those who counselled the crown, did not know, they ought to know, that when once the line was passed, retreat was impossible, and discussion inevitable. Not merely was the queen's character at stake-not merely must the treatment she had received, in this or that instance, be investigatednot merely must the inquiry extend to this or that illustrious house with which she was connected-but all the private history of all those exalted individuals to whom she was related might be forced into the conflict.

Mr. Brougham concluded a very desultory, but very able speech, with deprecating, in the strongest language, the further prosecution of the inquiry.

Mr. Canning rose after Mr. Brougham. He declared, that, next to the desire which was nearest his heart, that this inquiry might be avoided, he cherished the hope, that she, who was chiefly interested in it, would come out of the trial superior to the accusation. He then defended the conduct of ministers in proposing terms to her, and in trying to negotiate with her. He said, that he believed that Mr. Brougham went to the management of that negotiation with as sincere a desire to bring it to an amicable conclusion, as any individual could feel. He distinctly made that admission, and he made it the rather, because, if he had any thing to complain of in the conduct of the learned gentleman, it was this-that if he saw, in the terms which were to be proposed, any thing so objectionable, as made it clear at the first blush that they could not be received, it was a pity that he did not point it out before he left this country; and it was more to be lamented, that he did not wait for the expression of her majesty's indignation, before he gave way to his own. It was strange that no portion of the indignation expressed by the learned gentleman, when those terms were proposed at St. Omer, was kindled in London. He believed, that the learned gentleman did go to the continent, not only with a sincere desire to forward the negotiation, but with a reasonable hope of bringing it to a happy conclusion. He, however, was never in his life so much

disappointed, as when, on his arrival in town on Monday morning, he found that the whole negotiation had failed. The learned gentleman had joined with him ip acquitting the government of any blame with regard to the pecuniary offer; but, it seemed that the renunciation of the title of queen was that, which could not be demanded without offence, and the learned gentleman rejected the explanation that had been given with respect to the light in which that sacrifice was called for. In the memorandum which was put into the learned gentleman's hand, there was an explanation of the sense in which that condition was intended, which must have satisfied his mind, that no disposition existed to rob her majesty of any of her substantive rights. There was no design to take any of them away. In lord Hutchinson's letter, indeed, the phrase "that she should lay down all claim to the title and dignity of queen of England" was made use of. The real proposal, however, was, "that she should use some other name than that of queen." Gentlemen seemed to confound the phrases, but they were widely different and distinct. It had never been understood that the emperor of Russia, when travelling through Germany under the title of count, had renounced the title of emperor. In the paper which he held in his hand it was stated, that she was not to use any title that belonged to the royal family. Of that condition he knew nothing. It might have been a matter of inference in the mind of lord Hutchinson. But it did not enter into the minds of his majesty's government. The government were here placed in

a situation of peculiar difficulty, and a situation out of which he did not know how they could fairly extricate themselves. This arose, not from inability, but from particular circumstances. They were asked how they came to propose certain terms; but, when they proposed them, they had not seen, that they could have been rejected. At an early period, they had been inadvertent enough to receive a communication under the seal of secrecy. He could not state its contents, though he held the paper in his hand; nor could he state the quarter from which it came, although that would be material. But when goaded by unnecessary and wanton insult, he must mention to the House, that in July, 1819, a statement had been given to government, under the obligation of secrecy, discussing every one of the propositions which had been made to her majesty. He said, he was precluded from stating its contents; but this he would say fearlessly, that not one proposition had been made by ministers, which had not its prototype in the suggestion thus made to government for the guidance of its eventual conduct. And this suggestion had come from a quarter, which could not be understood to propose or sanction any thing degrading to her.

From whatever quarter the communication to which he had alluded had come, he affirmed, upon his honour, that he had understood, in his conscience, that, when occasion should arise for the practical use of the proposition, it would be accepted. He did not say, that the illustrious personage, to his knowledge, was in the remotest degree implicated;